BOB ABERNETHY (anchor): As we reported earlier, a new poll this week shows that although three-quarters of Americans like the general idea of government support for faith-based social service programs, big majorities also oppose specific parts of President Bush's proposal.

The poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, whose director is Andrew Kohut, and by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, whose co-chair is E.J. Dionne, who is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a columnist for THE WASHINGTON POST.

Welcome to both of you.

E.J., supporters of the President's proposal say the poll findings help that idea. Others say that those findings could perhaps kill it. Where do you come out?

E. J. DIONNE (Co-chair, Pew Forum): Maybe they're both right. I think what you see in this poll is that the music is very good for President Bush's initiative, but he's got some problems with the words. Which is to say people like the idea in general. They believe that religious organizations are particularly compassionate. They like the idea of people having choices. And very substantial majorities think that religion can transform people's lives. That's all good for Bush. But as you mention, there are some very important hurdles. People worry about government money going to proselytize people. They worry about people getting discriminated against in hiring at these organizations. And that is two big issues that foes of the program are focusing on.

ABERNETHY: Andy, let's go into those -- the major findings that should be of concern to the President?

ANDREW KOHUT (Director, Pew Research Center): Well, the American public worries about what government might do to religion. Sixty-eight percent think it might lead to too much government involvement in religion. And they worry about what religious groups might do to the people they're trying help. People are very wary of these religious organizations getting funding and then proselytizing the recipients of their social services. And even though the American public thinks the reason why this is a good idea is because the power of religion can help solve social problems, they are a little dicey about whether these groups will use federal money to make converts. And of course the groups that they are most worried about are non-traditional, non-Judeo Christian groups such as Buddhist Americans or Muslim Americans, not to mention Scientologists and the Nation of Islam and other groups that are out of the mainstream of the American religious experience.

ABERNETHY: So how can they have a program if they don't make available money, if they want it, to some of these minority groups?

DIONNE: Well the answer, I think Constitutionally, is whatever you think of the overall Constitutionality of it, you have to have it open to all religious groups, or else the government really is showing a preference for this group or that group. Our findings on, if you will, newer faiths in our country or minority faiths are interesting because on the one hand there is skepticism about giving money, and yet we ask some other questions about "Are you uncomfortable with the fact that these groups are growing in the nation?" And people aren't uncomfortable. I think a lot of those numbers reflect whether people are familiar with the groups or not. People tend to be uncomfortable with what they're not familiar with. There's a striking generational difference. Younger respondents, first of all, are more sympathetic to this overall initiative than older respondents are and they are more open to the newer "religions to our shores," if I can put it that way. But I think these differences by age are one of the most interesting things we've found.